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No students move following CU dorm segregation for gun owners

By Ryan Parker The Denver Post

Posted:
11/24/2012 12:01:00 AM MST

Since the University of Colorado's Boulder and Colorado Springs campuses began segregating dorms for students with valid concealed-carry permits this year, not a single student has asked to live where guns are allowed.

On Aug. 16, CU announced that both campuses would establish a residential area for students over age 21 with a permit to hold a concealed handgun. In all other dormitories, guns are banned.

"So far, no one has moved," CU spokesman Ken McConnellogue said.

A multitude of things could explain the lack of interest. The population of students with permits is minuscule, so it could be that none with a permit is living in a dorm.

But it's also possible not everyone who is armed is being forthcoming.

There are students with permits attending both campuses, McConnellogue said.

"I'm not surprised," said David Burnett, spokesman for Students for Concealed Carry. "You've proven you're legally, responsibly and morally able to carry, then the college comes back and tells you you've got to move.

"What would you do?"

Students with permits who choose to live in an unapproved dorm are not allowed to have their weapons on their person or in their rooms, according to policy.

"We have to trust students will honor all provisions of resident-hall conduct until we see otherwise," McConnellogue said.

Attendees at ticketed athletic and cultural events, such as football games and theater, on both campuses are not permitted to bring guns, policy states.

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The concealed-carry issue was forced back into the spotlight this month when a staff member with a concealed-carry permit at the School of Dental Medicine on the Anschutz Medical campus accidentally shot a co-worker while showing her gun.

Both of the staffers were injured in the incident, but neither was hospitalized, police said.

The gun owner is no longer employed by the university, and charges were filed, according to police.

Following that incident, the School of Medicine Faculty Senate voted 28-0 to support an online petition urging University of Colorado president Bruce Benson to fight to return control of the campus firearms policy to the Board of Regents.

In March, the state Supreme Court said the regents overstepped their authority in banning permitted concealed weapons on campus.

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